(no subject)
Coins for Caring: Help the Victims of Hurricane Katrina
When you count your coins by using the Penny Arcade coin counting machines at Commerce Bank (locations), you can donate all or a portion of your money to the "Coins for Caring" campaign. The free, self-service Penny Arcade coin counting machines are easy to use and conveniently located next to the teller counter at every Commerce branch.
To support the campaign, Commerce will match contributions up to $50,000 to the American Red Cross. Along with collecting coins, all Commerce branches also will serve as collection points for other cash contributions to the American Red Cross relief efforts.
Coins for Caring has been created to benefit the American Red Cross's efforts to assist the victims of Hurricane Katrina.
------
nota bene: i trust kevin powell's word on which agencies are providing good help, and i recommend that you do likewise.
From: NEWS-bounces@chrisowensinbrooklyn.com on behalf of [News For You]
Sent: Wed 9/7/2005 2:17 PM
To: news@chrisowensinbrooklyn.com
Subject: [News For You] Hurricane Help
Dear Friends,
Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath pose a great challenge to our nation and ourselves. My father and his family came from Mississippi and Memphis and we, like everyone else, are saddened and most definitely outraged by the events of this past week. We hope that every person will do what they can to provide aid.
Here in New York, a friend of mine, Kevin Powell, has put together an important benefit event this Thursday, September 8, from 7 pm to 11 pm, at The Canal Room, 285 West Broadway (Canal Street) in lower Manhattan. To RSVP, please contact cher_harrison@yahoo.com. You must be at least age 21 and have a form of identification. Admission is FREE (cash bar all night) but you MUST bring an item for the victims of Hurricane Katrina as set forth below; monetary donations will NOT be taken at this event.
Items will be loaded onto a big truck in front of CANAL ROOM and driven directly to Claiborne County Health Center in Port Gibson, Mississippi, run by Dr. Demitri Marshall. It is in a position to get these items directly to people in need. PLEASE make sure clothing and shoes and sneakers are new OR clean and in good condition:
Air mattresses, aspirin, baby aspirin, baby food, baby wipes, band aids, batteries, blankets, books for adults or children, coloring books, crayons, candles, cleaning supplies, clothing, cotton balls or swabs, diapers, flashlights, garbage bags, gasoline gift cards, hydrogen peroxide BUT NOT rubbing alcohol (flammable), magazines, plastic utensils, pillows and pillow cases, radios - portable with batteries, razors - male and female, sanitary napkins or tampons, shaving cream, sheets, shoes, sneakers, soap, socks, toilet paper, toothbrushes and toothpaste, vitamins, water (bottles)
If you are placing donated items in a bag PLEASE LABEL them. For example, "Children shoes" or "Adult shoes," "Children clothes" or "Adult clothes."
Kevin Powell has also organized the following actions that you can take to help Katrina victims:
For those who wish to make monetary donations, please send funds to these outlets. These have been confirmed by Kevin and are REALLY delivering services to folks in need right now:
BlackAmericaWeb.com Relief Fund
PO Box 803209, Dallas, TX 75240
www.blackamericaweb.com/relief
This fund has been set up by nationally syndicated radio personality TOM JOYNER.
The NAACP is setting up command centers in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama as part of its disaster relief efforts. Also, the NAACP has established a disaster relief fund to accept monetary donations to aid in the relief effort.
Checks can be sent to the NAACP payable to:
NAACP Hurricane Katrina Relief Fund
4805 Mt. Hope Drive, Baltimore, MD 21215
Donations can also be made online at www.naacp.org/disaster/contribute.php
Team Rescue has been set up by native New Orleans rapper Master P and his wife, Sonya Miller.
www.teamrescueone.com
Noahs Wish is connecting hurricane victims with their pets and conducting emergency animal rescues.
www.noahswish.org
Louisiana Coalition Against Domestic Violence is providing services and shelter to the many women who were in shelters for battered women and have had to flee.
www.lcadvhrf.org
You can mail or ship non-perishable items to the following locations, which Kevin has confirmed are REALLY delivering services to folks in need:
Center for Life Outreach Center
121 Saint Landry Street, Lafayette, LA 70506
Attn: Minister Pamela Robinson
337-504-5374
Mohammad Mosque 65
2600 Plank Road, Baton Rouge, LA 70805
Attn: Minister Andrew Muhammad 225-923-1400
225-357-3079
Lewis Temple CME Church
272 Medgar Evers Street, Grambling, LA 71245
Attn: Rev. Dr. Ricky Helton
318-247-3793
St. Luke Community United Methodist Church
c/o Hurricane Katrina Victims
5710 East R.L. Thornton Freeway, Dallas, TX 75223
Attn: Pastor Tom Waitschies
214-821-2970
S.H.A.P.E. Community Center
3815 Live Oak, Houston, Texas 77004
Attn: Deloyd Parker
713-521-0641
Five other things you can do to help immediately:
1. Duplicate what we are doing elsewhere in New York City, in your city or town, on your college campus, at your church, synagogue, mosque, or other religious institution, via your fraternity or sorority, or via your local civic or social organization.
2. Cut and paste the information in this e-blast about items needed by survivors of the New Orleans catastrophe. Share this information with folks near and far, via email, or as a hand out at your event, religious institution, and with your civic or social organization.
3. Voice your opinion to local and national media, and to elected officials, via letter, email, op ed article, or phone call, regarding the coverage of the New Orleans catastrophe, as well as to handling of this situation by the federal government.
4. Ask the hotel you frequent to give your hotel points to an individual or family in need of a stay for a night, a few nights, or longer, depending on how many points you have. Be sure to get confirmation that your points have been applied in that way. Also inquire if your airline frequent flyer mileage can be used for hotel stays as well. If not, donate your miles to a worthy organization.
Finally, either offer to pay for hotel rooms, or encourage others to do so, including your place of employment or worship or your organization.
5. Dare to care about others. Like September 11th, the Katrina catastrophe is a harsh reminder that all life is precious, as is each day we have on this earth.
For a more complete and balanced presentation of the New Orleans catastrophe, visit these websites:
www.diversityinc.com
www.alternet.org
www.blackelectorate.com
www.npr.org
www.daveyd.com
www.slate.com
www.bet.com
www.allhiphop.com
www.democracynow.org
www.blackamericaweb.com
Sincerely,
Chris Owens
Authorized and paid for by
Chris Owens for Congress
328 Flatbush Avenue, #333
Brooklyn, NY 11238-4302
(718) 604-7500
Volunteers Swarm the Gulf Coast
Charities Scramble to Place Citizens Who Want to Help; Pilots, Teachers and Masseurs
The Wall Street Journal
(Subscription Required)
By Rachel Emma Silverman and Elizabeth Bernstein
9/8/2005
More than a week after Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast, many Americans are reaching beyond their checkbooks to donate something other than money. They're offering themselves.
Hundreds of police officers from Chicago have volunteered to go to New Orleans. The University of Cincinnati has sent doctors and nurses to Lafayette, La. A church in Colorado is shipping vans of college kids to Baton Rouge. Across the country, thousands of individuals are preparing to rush down to the hurricane-ravaged Gulf Coast to assist the survivors of Hurricane Katrina any way they can.
In the past week, volunteer organizations and charities say they are seeing an unprecedented number of people -- including teachers, truckers and even a magician -- reach out to offer their services for the relief effort. The American Red Cross says it has 26,000 volunteers in the region, while the Salvation Army has more than 1,000 in Mississippi and Louisiana alone. VolunteerMatch, an organization that pairs volunteers with charities that need their help, has seen volunteer emails triple in the past week, to about 3,000 a day.
Charities are launching new ways to handle the surge of volunteers. The Salvation Army has set up a registry for Katrina volunteers -- the first time it has done so during a disaster. Earlier this week, VolunteerMatch created a page on its Web site for people to search for Katrina-related volunteer opportunities. MoveOn.org, a liberal activist group, started a registry for people to offer free housing to people displaced by the hurricane.
The Red Cross, which says it needs more volunteers to do everything from answering phones at its Washington, D.C., headquarters to serving food in the disaster region, has asked that people be patient when they call to offer help, because it takes time to process all the requests. Some local chapters are expediting disaster training for volunteers.
Last week, Camille Hoheb called a Red Cross chapter near her home in Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif., and was told that she had to be specially trained to volunteer. Impatient, she found a Red Cross chapter in San Antonio that told her to come down. By Sunday, she was doing everything from serving meals to helping elderly ladies get to the restroom to lending her cellphone so refugees could make outbound calls. "It's one thing raising money, but I'll tell you it's a lot different being hands-on, and I would do it again in a heartbeat," says Ms. Hoheb, a 41-year-old executive at a consulting firm.
A good number of the volunteers are trained professionals, such as doctors, lawyers, accountants, veterinarians and firefighters, some of whom are being recruited and organized through professional associations and trade groups. The American Bar Association, for example, has started a drive to recruit a cadre of lawyers to perform a variety of pro bono legal work -- such as filing insurance claims and restoring key documents, such as wills and deeds. The American Psychological Association has sent members of its 2,000-person Disaster Response Network, who have been previously trained to deal with catastrophes, to Red Cross shelters in Louisiana, Mississippi and other states.
The American Medical Association is encouraging doctors to volunteer in the affected areas, and offers tips on how to do that on its Web site (ama-assn.org). Meanwhile, the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants is sending volunteers to help taxpayers and assist Internal Revenue Service staffers at local disaster recovery centers.
Some volunteers are offering more unusual skills, such as massage therapy and piloting. Earlier this week, Andrew Baroch -- a magician who performs under the name "Mysteriani" -- called a Washington, D.C., shelter to volunteer his skills to entertain the families of evacuees the shelter is housing. Other volunteers are taking in refugees themselves or providing foster homes for pets.
Much of the volunteer efforts are faith-based. Across the country, churches, synagogues and mosques, as well as dioceses and religious charities, are registering volunteers, filling buses with supplies and even offering to shelter evacuees relocated to their region.
The New Life Church, an evangelical congregation in Colorado Springs, Colo., is organizing several "teams" to volunteer at evangelical churches in the devastated region that are helping refugees. The first group left in two vans and an RV on Tuesday night to travel to the Bethany World Prayer Center in Baton Rouge, which is sheltering refugees, along with $140,000 raised by the 11,000-member church in the past week. "Whatever they say they need, we will do," says Lisa Beard, a 29-year-old cardiac-care nurse who is the team leader. "We will bring clothes in, bathe them, offer comfort."
To be sure, the volunteer effort comes amid a huge outpouring of donations. Since Aug. 29, the day the hurricane hit the Gulf Coast, relief agencies have taken in more than $500 million -- a pace of fund raising that may be unprecedented in the country's history. The Red Cross alone has received more than $409 million as of Tuesday evening, while the Salvation Army has received $55 million as of yesterday.
People who want to volunteer should contact a local congregation or their local Red Cross chapter, which can be found on www.redcross.org, or the Salvation Army, at www.salvationarmyusa.org. The Red Cross Web site also tries to connect people to various short- and long-term opportunities. Professionals with special skills should try their trade organizations to see if the groups are launching an organized volunteer response.
Such sites as www.Craigslist.org, www.katrinahousing.org and www.Hurricanehousing.org, connect people offering temporary housing with storm refugees. If you are interested in becoming a foster family for pets displaced by the hurricane, contact an animal-welfare group.
Many eager volunteers, though, might be disappointed. There are numerous challenges facing those who go to the region, including a broken communications system, lack of accommodations, power and even clean water, risk of disease and increasingly expensive fuel.
Some charities say that they are not taking any more Katrina volunteers right now, because they are still assessing what needs to be done. They are encouraging volunteers to check in next week, when their needs are clearer and when the initial rush of interest has died down.
USA Freedom Corp., for example, an office of the White House that encourages volunteerism, is urging people not to go to the afflicted area at this time, unless they are affiliated with a professional organization, such as a fire department or relief organization. "If you want to do something now, volunteer in your community," says Alyssa McClenning, a spokeswoman for the group. "There will be enough time later."
Even some trade groups are preaching caution. The National Association of Realtors has issued a statement on its Web site cautioning its members: "Don't Travel to the Disaster Sites." The warning explains that "unauthorized people strain the resources that are needed for the victims of the hurricane. At this time, the most effective way to help is to donate money." As of yesterday, the group had collected more than $2.3 million and many Realtors had organized efforts to find temporary housing for victims.
Volunteers might not always get what they expect. A group from Lansing, Mich., spearheaded by Michigan's Legislative Black Caucus and the Red Cross, launched a mission to drive 18 hours to Baton Rouge on Saturday in three buses, loaded with food and other supplies. The 14 volunteers had expected to drop off the supplies and pick up as many as 150 evacuees to transport them to housing in Michigan.
When the volunteers arrived in Louisiana, though, only five people came aboard. A number of families that were supposed to come had already been transported to shelters in other states. Others didn't want to leave Louisiana. "We felt we accomplished half of the mission -- delivering the food there," says Kellie Dean, president of Dean Trailways of Michigan, who went on the mission and donated the buses. "But we expected to bring back 150 people."
-- e-newsletter of the Council on Foundations
Hurricane Katrina is the anti-9/11 in its divisive political effect, its unearthing of underlying domestic problems, and its disorienting impact on the president and his administration. Yet, in other ways, the failure of government before the hurricane struck is reminiscent of the failures leading into 9/11. The demotion of FEMA resembles the demotion of counterterrorism czar Richard Clarke. In both cases, the administration ignored clear warnings.
In a conversation with a former diplomat with decades of experience, I raised these parallels. But the Bush administration response evoked something else for him. "It reminds me of Africa," he said. "Governments that prey on their people." --Sidney Blumenthal
When you count your coins by using the Penny Arcade coin counting machines at Commerce Bank (locations), you can donate all or a portion of your money to the "Coins for Caring" campaign. The free, self-service Penny Arcade coin counting machines are easy to use and conveniently located next to the teller counter at every Commerce branch.
To support the campaign, Commerce will match contributions up to $50,000 to the American Red Cross. Along with collecting coins, all Commerce branches also will serve as collection points for other cash contributions to the American Red Cross relief efforts.
Coins for Caring has been created to benefit the American Red Cross's efforts to assist the victims of Hurricane Katrina.
------
nota bene: i trust kevin powell's word on which agencies are providing good help, and i recommend that you do likewise.
From: NEWS-bounces@chrisowensinbrooklyn.com on behalf of [News For You]
Sent: Wed 9/7/2005 2:17 PM
To: news@chrisowensinbrooklyn.com
Subject: [News For You] Hurricane Help
Dear Friends,
Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath pose a great challenge to our nation and ourselves. My father and his family came from Mississippi and Memphis and we, like everyone else, are saddened and most definitely outraged by the events of this past week. We hope that every person will do what they can to provide aid.
Here in New York, a friend of mine, Kevin Powell, has put together an important benefit event this Thursday, September 8, from 7 pm to 11 pm, at The Canal Room, 285 West Broadway (Canal Street) in lower Manhattan. To RSVP, please contact cher_harrison@yahoo.com. You must be at least age 21 and have a form of identification. Admission is FREE (cash bar all night) but you MUST bring an item for the victims of Hurricane Katrina as set forth below; monetary donations will NOT be taken at this event.
Items will be loaded onto a big truck in front of CANAL ROOM and driven directly to Claiborne County Health Center in Port Gibson, Mississippi, run by Dr. Demitri Marshall. It is in a position to get these items directly to people in need. PLEASE make sure clothing and shoes and sneakers are new OR clean and in good condition:
Air mattresses, aspirin, baby aspirin, baby food, baby wipes, band aids, batteries, blankets, books for adults or children, coloring books, crayons, candles, cleaning supplies, clothing, cotton balls or swabs, diapers, flashlights, garbage bags, gasoline gift cards, hydrogen peroxide BUT NOT rubbing alcohol (flammable), magazines, plastic utensils, pillows and pillow cases, radios - portable with batteries, razors - male and female, sanitary napkins or tampons, shaving cream, sheets, shoes, sneakers, soap, socks, toilet paper, toothbrushes and toothpaste, vitamins, water (bottles)
If you are placing donated items in a bag PLEASE LABEL them. For example, "Children shoes" or "Adult shoes," "Children clothes" or "Adult clothes."
Kevin Powell has also organized the following actions that you can take to help Katrina victims:
For those who wish to make monetary donations, please send funds to these outlets. These have been confirmed by Kevin and are REALLY delivering services to folks in need right now:
BlackAmericaWeb.com Relief Fund
PO Box 803209, Dallas, TX 75240
www.blackamericaweb.com/relief
This fund has been set up by nationally syndicated radio personality TOM JOYNER.
The NAACP is setting up command centers in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama as part of its disaster relief efforts. Also, the NAACP has established a disaster relief fund to accept monetary donations to aid in the relief effort.
Checks can be sent to the NAACP payable to:
NAACP Hurricane Katrina Relief Fund
4805 Mt. Hope Drive, Baltimore, MD 21215
Donations can also be made online at www.naacp.org/disaster/contribute.php
Team Rescue has been set up by native New Orleans rapper Master P and his wife, Sonya Miller.
www.teamrescueone.com
Noahs Wish is connecting hurricane victims with their pets and conducting emergency animal rescues.
www.noahswish.org
Louisiana Coalition Against Domestic Violence is providing services and shelter to the many women who were in shelters for battered women and have had to flee.
www.lcadvhrf.org
You can mail or ship non-perishable items to the following locations, which Kevin has confirmed are REALLY delivering services to folks in need:
Center for Life Outreach Center
121 Saint Landry Street, Lafayette, LA 70506
Attn: Minister Pamela Robinson
337-504-5374
Mohammad Mosque 65
2600 Plank Road, Baton Rouge, LA 70805
Attn: Minister Andrew Muhammad 225-923-1400
225-357-3079
Lewis Temple CME Church
272 Medgar Evers Street, Grambling, LA 71245
Attn: Rev. Dr. Ricky Helton
318-247-3793
St. Luke Community United Methodist Church
c/o Hurricane Katrina Victims
5710 East R.L. Thornton Freeway, Dallas, TX 75223
Attn: Pastor Tom Waitschies
214-821-2970
S.H.A.P.E. Community Center
3815 Live Oak, Houston, Texas 77004
Attn: Deloyd Parker
713-521-0641
Five other things you can do to help immediately:
1. Duplicate what we are doing elsewhere in New York City, in your city or town, on your college campus, at your church, synagogue, mosque, or other religious institution, via your fraternity or sorority, or via your local civic or social organization.
2. Cut and paste the information in this e-blast about items needed by survivors of the New Orleans catastrophe. Share this information with folks near and far, via email, or as a hand out at your event, religious institution, and with your civic or social organization.
3. Voice your opinion to local and national media, and to elected officials, via letter, email, op ed article, or phone call, regarding the coverage of the New Orleans catastrophe, as well as to handling of this situation by the federal government.
4. Ask the hotel you frequent to give your hotel points to an individual or family in need of a stay for a night, a few nights, or longer, depending on how many points you have. Be sure to get confirmation that your points have been applied in that way. Also inquire if your airline frequent flyer mileage can be used for hotel stays as well. If not, donate your miles to a worthy organization.
Finally, either offer to pay for hotel rooms, or encourage others to do so, including your place of employment or worship or your organization.
5. Dare to care about others. Like September 11th, the Katrina catastrophe is a harsh reminder that all life is precious, as is each day we have on this earth.
For a more complete and balanced presentation of the New Orleans catastrophe, visit these websites:
www.diversityinc.com
www.alternet.org
www.blackelectorate.com
www.npr.org
www.daveyd.com
www.slate.com
www.bet.com
www.allhiphop.com
www.democracynow.org
www.blackamericaweb.com
Sincerely,
Chris Owens
Authorized and paid for by
Chris Owens for Congress
328 Flatbush Avenue, #333
Brooklyn, NY 11238-4302
(718) 604-7500
Volunteers Swarm the Gulf Coast
Charities Scramble to Place Citizens Who Want to Help; Pilots, Teachers and Masseurs
The Wall Street Journal
(Subscription Required)
By Rachel Emma Silverman and Elizabeth Bernstein
9/8/2005
More than a week after Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast, many Americans are reaching beyond their checkbooks to donate something other than money. They're offering themselves.
Hundreds of police officers from Chicago have volunteered to go to New Orleans. The University of Cincinnati has sent doctors and nurses to Lafayette, La. A church in Colorado is shipping vans of college kids to Baton Rouge. Across the country, thousands of individuals are preparing to rush down to the hurricane-ravaged Gulf Coast to assist the survivors of Hurricane Katrina any way they can.
In the past week, volunteer organizations and charities say they are seeing an unprecedented number of people -- including teachers, truckers and even a magician -- reach out to offer their services for the relief effort. The American Red Cross says it has 26,000 volunteers in the region, while the Salvation Army has more than 1,000 in Mississippi and Louisiana alone. VolunteerMatch, an organization that pairs volunteers with charities that need their help, has seen volunteer emails triple in the past week, to about 3,000 a day.
Charities are launching new ways to handle the surge of volunteers. The Salvation Army has set up a registry for Katrina volunteers -- the first time it has done so during a disaster. Earlier this week, VolunteerMatch created a page on its Web site for people to search for Katrina-related volunteer opportunities. MoveOn.org, a liberal activist group, started a registry for people to offer free housing to people displaced by the hurricane.
The Red Cross, which says it needs more volunteers to do everything from answering phones at its Washington, D.C., headquarters to serving food in the disaster region, has asked that people be patient when they call to offer help, because it takes time to process all the requests. Some local chapters are expediting disaster training for volunteers.
Last week, Camille Hoheb called a Red Cross chapter near her home in Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif., and was told that she had to be specially trained to volunteer. Impatient, she found a Red Cross chapter in San Antonio that told her to come down. By Sunday, she was doing everything from serving meals to helping elderly ladies get to the restroom to lending her cellphone so refugees could make outbound calls. "It's one thing raising money, but I'll tell you it's a lot different being hands-on, and I would do it again in a heartbeat," says Ms. Hoheb, a 41-year-old executive at a consulting firm.
A good number of the volunteers are trained professionals, such as doctors, lawyers, accountants, veterinarians and firefighters, some of whom are being recruited and organized through professional associations and trade groups. The American Bar Association, for example, has started a drive to recruit a cadre of lawyers to perform a variety of pro bono legal work -- such as filing insurance claims and restoring key documents, such as wills and deeds. The American Psychological Association has sent members of its 2,000-person Disaster Response Network, who have been previously trained to deal with catastrophes, to Red Cross shelters in Louisiana, Mississippi and other states.
The American Medical Association is encouraging doctors to volunteer in the affected areas, and offers tips on how to do that on its Web site (ama-assn.org). Meanwhile, the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants is sending volunteers to help taxpayers and assist Internal Revenue Service staffers at local disaster recovery centers.
Some volunteers are offering more unusual skills, such as massage therapy and piloting. Earlier this week, Andrew Baroch -- a magician who performs under the name "Mysteriani" -- called a Washington, D.C., shelter to volunteer his skills to entertain the families of evacuees the shelter is housing. Other volunteers are taking in refugees themselves or providing foster homes for pets.
Much of the volunteer efforts are faith-based. Across the country, churches, synagogues and mosques, as well as dioceses and religious charities, are registering volunteers, filling buses with supplies and even offering to shelter evacuees relocated to their region.
The New Life Church, an evangelical congregation in Colorado Springs, Colo., is organizing several "teams" to volunteer at evangelical churches in the devastated region that are helping refugees. The first group left in two vans and an RV on Tuesday night to travel to the Bethany World Prayer Center in Baton Rouge, which is sheltering refugees, along with $140,000 raised by the 11,000-member church in the past week. "Whatever they say they need, we will do," says Lisa Beard, a 29-year-old cardiac-care nurse who is the team leader. "We will bring clothes in, bathe them, offer comfort."
To be sure, the volunteer effort comes amid a huge outpouring of donations. Since Aug. 29, the day the hurricane hit the Gulf Coast, relief agencies have taken in more than $500 million -- a pace of fund raising that may be unprecedented in the country's history. The Red Cross alone has received more than $409 million as of Tuesday evening, while the Salvation Army has received $55 million as of yesterday.
People who want to volunteer should contact a local congregation or their local Red Cross chapter, which can be found on www.redcross.org, or the Salvation Army, at www.salvationarmyusa.org. The Red Cross Web site also tries to connect people to various short- and long-term opportunities. Professionals with special skills should try their trade organizations to see if the groups are launching an organized volunteer response.
Such sites as www.Craigslist.org, www.katrinahousing.org and www.Hurricanehousing.org, connect people offering temporary housing with storm refugees. If you are interested in becoming a foster family for pets displaced by the hurricane, contact an animal-welfare group.
Many eager volunteers, though, might be disappointed. There are numerous challenges facing those who go to the region, including a broken communications system, lack of accommodations, power and even clean water, risk of disease and increasingly expensive fuel.
Some charities say that they are not taking any more Katrina volunteers right now, because they are still assessing what needs to be done. They are encouraging volunteers to check in next week, when their needs are clearer and when the initial rush of interest has died down.
USA Freedom Corp., for example, an office of the White House that encourages volunteerism, is urging people not to go to the afflicted area at this time, unless they are affiliated with a professional organization, such as a fire department or relief organization. "If you want to do something now, volunteer in your community," says Alyssa McClenning, a spokeswoman for the group. "There will be enough time later."
Even some trade groups are preaching caution. The National Association of Realtors has issued a statement on its Web site cautioning its members: "Don't Travel to the Disaster Sites." The warning explains that "unauthorized people strain the resources that are needed for the victims of the hurricane. At this time, the most effective way to help is to donate money." As of yesterday, the group had collected more than $2.3 million and many Realtors had organized efforts to find temporary housing for victims.
Volunteers might not always get what they expect. A group from Lansing, Mich., spearheaded by Michigan's Legislative Black Caucus and the Red Cross, launched a mission to drive 18 hours to Baton Rouge on Saturday in three buses, loaded with food and other supplies. The 14 volunteers had expected to drop off the supplies and pick up as many as 150 evacuees to transport them to housing in Michigan.
When the volunteers arrived in Louisiana, though, only five people came aboard. A number of families that were supposed to come had already been transported to shelters in other states. Others didn't want to leave Louisiana. "We felt we accomplished half of the mission -- delivering the food there," says Kellie Dean, president of Dean Trailways of Michigan, who went on the mission and donated the buses. "But we expected to bring back 150 people."
-- e-newsletter of the Council on Foundations
Hurricane Katrina is the anti-9/11 in its divisive political effect, its unearthing of underlying domestic problems, and its disorienting impact on the president and his administration. Yet, in other ways, the failure of government before the hurricane struck is reminiscent of the failures leading into 9/11. The demotion of FEMA resembles the demotion of counterterrorism czar Richard Clarke. In both cases, the administration ignored clear warnings.
In a conversation with a former diplomat with decades of experience, I raised these parallels. But the Bush administration response evoked something else for him. "It reminds me of Africa," he said. "Governments that prey on their people." --Sidney Blumenthal